GigaOm Radar for Cloud Resource Optimizationv3.0

1. Executive Summary

Cloud resources that are not optimized can prove costly. Cloud resource optimization solutions provide a holistic view of an organization’s public or private cloud infrastructure. They deliver resource configuration suggestions that balance cost, performance, and other objectives. The most valuable of these solutions provide effective and reliable resource configuration recommendations, integrate into deployment pipelines, and enhance management processes.

Furthermore, as cloud usage continues to outpace the rate at which IT operational analysts can be hired, automated optimization of these resources directly impacts the bottom-line of the cloud bill and the effectiveness of existing IT staff (who are freed up to work on higher-value business objectives). Taking an hour to determine whether a machine would benefit from less or more vCPU may seem hardly worth the time and effort but may reveal an imbalance that can generate significant excess spending or risk if neglected at scale. This is the kind of task the analytics engines within resource management solutions can handle effectively and expediently.

As you evaluate cloud resource optimization solutions, it’s important to keep the following in mind:

• Cloud resource optimization is closely aligned with the financial operations (FinOps) and cloud management platform (CMP) tooling categories, and solutions may lean in one of those directions with a strategy of providing a single solution.

• Private cloud, public cloud, and Kubernetes resources all require oversight and optimization, and solutions tend to be stronger in one area than another. You’ll need to determine where your resource challenges exist today and what improvements you want to have made 12 to 18 months from now.

• It can be beneficial to delegate resource and cost optimization to individual teams, with some limited central oversight. Individual teams are closely aligned with the performance needs of their applications and, if motivated properly and given the right tools, will ensure a balance is reached between cost and performance.

This is our third year evaluating the cloud resource optimization space in the context of our Key Criteria and Radar reports. This report builds on our previous analysis and considers how the market has evolved over the last year.

This GigaOm Radar report examines 11 of the top cloud resource optimization solutions in the market and compares offerings against the capabilities (table stakes, key features, and emerging features) and nonfunctional requirements (business criteria) outlined in the companion Key Criteria report. Together, these reports provide an overview of the category and its underlying technology, identify leading cloud resource optimization offerings, and help decision-makers evaluate these solutions so they can make a more informed investment decision.